Accepting Diffrences
by TitaniChipmunkgrl
Summary: Young Tarzan is living happily with only Kala accepting him for what he is until she breaks her leg in an accident. Kerchak must take the family away to a safer place for a while, but must leave Kala behind because of her injury. Tarzan is forced to leave Kala behind. A heart warming story of a father and son bond.


**Quick details on how the story works. The lyrics of the song are to be sung while the action of the paragraph above are happening**The hot African sun rose over the trees of the jungle. Its rays danced across the leaves as if it was waking them up for another glorious day. The nearby river began to sparkle. Rays of sun light peeked through small openings of the branches.

Most of the Animals were just waking up, but Terk and Tarzan had gotten up just a few minutes before sunrise. Tarzan swung playfully through the trees while Terk tried to catch him. Tarzan pulled himself up onto a large branch. Terk nearly catches him.

_Oh the power to be strong_

Tarzan hides in the leaves just before Terk turns a corner. She doesn't see him anywhere. She scratches her head. In his hiding spot, Tarzan stifles a giggle by placing his hand over his mouth.

_And the wisdom to be wise_

_All these things will come to you in time_

Terk finds Tarzan and tags him. Tarzan goes running after her. He is not as fast as she is though, but climbs a branch to get ahead of her and finally tags her. He runs ahead of her while she is in shock. "Oh Come on!" complained Terk. "Not your short-cuts again!"

_On this journey that your making_

_There'll be answers that you seek_

Tarzan jumped from a lower branch to one much higher than Terk's level.

_And it's you who'll climb a mountain_

This branch seemed little weak; being so high up, but it was holding Tarzan's weight. He thought it would be able to hold both Terk and him, but just in case, he jumped a branch higher. Also he knew Terk would be coming sometime soon and he was too slow to out run her, or any of the other gorillas for some odd reason.

_It's you who will reach the peak_

"Hey, Terk!" Tarzan called. Suddenly, Terk came running through the branches and glared up at Tarzan. "Hey! No fair!" Terk yelled. "You know my mom won't let me go up that high!" Tarzan laughed.

_Son of man_

_Look to the sky_

_Lift your spirit _

_Set if free_

" I guess this is the first time you can't get me" giggled Tarzan. "Oh I'll tell you who's gonna get you! Look out Tarzan! I'm coming up, no matter what my mom says! Terk jumped up to the branch just a little lower than Tarzan's. Suddenly, Tarzan heard a crack, but it wasn't from his branch. Tarzan looked down.

_Someday you'll walk tall with pride_

_Son of man_

_A man in time you'll be_

Terk was trying to reach for him, but she didn't notice that her branch was breaking. "Terk! Be careful!" yelled Tarzan. "Oh buddy, you're the one who needs to be car—AHHHHHHH!" Terk couldn't finish her sentence for at that moment, the branch broke and she started falling. "TERK!" yelled Tarzan.

_( as Terk falls) Ooh yayo, Ooh yayo,_

**Meanwhile…**

Kala woke up to the sound of giggling. She immediately knew who the culprit was. Everyday her son and niece would wake up and play tree top tag, and every day when she woke up, she would call up to them the same thing. "Don't climb too high little ones or the branches won't be able to hold you". This morning, however, she felt she could trust them to be responsible and know when to stop climbing.

"Hey Terk!" She herd Tarzan yell. She chuckled and remembered the days when she was Tarzan's age. She used to play Treetop tag with her sister and Kerchak. Kerchak was the slowest, just like Tarzan. Tarzan and Kerchak had a lot in common. If Kerchak would only try to get to know Tarzan, He might start to consider being Tarzan's father. Maybe even succeed in increasing Tarzan's self-esteem and show him that someday everyone walks tall with pride. Kala started to remember the days when Kerchak, she and the deceased baby gorilla were family. She couldn't understand why Kerchak, didn't trust Tarzan. Of course, Tarzan didn't look like an ape, but why would it matter.

"Terk! Be careful!" Kala heard Tarzan yell. She was immediately alert. Then she heard a crack scream from Terk and Tarzan calling Terk's name in worry.

Kala gasped. She looked up and coming straight down on her was Terk screaming. There was no time to move and Terk landed straight on her leg, breaking it.

_Son of Man _

_Son of Man a man you're off to see_

Kala let out a roar of pain.

"Mom!" Tarzan yelled. He swung down and let out his yell. Waiting at the bottom was Kala in pain, Terk in astonishment, and Kerchak in suspicion. "You almost killed her!" accused Kerchak, glaring at Tarzan. "I didn't do anything!" Tarzan said nervously. "Terk fell out of the trees". Terk in response laughed nervously. "See what he has done, Kala," Kerchak said turning to his suffering mate. "He comes up with games to get others hurt; He has even injured you, now. How can you live with this?"

"Kerchak!" scolded Kala. "Mom, are you okay?" Tarzan asked beginning to walk closer to her. "STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Kerchak roared. "Kerchak, he just wants to help!" Kala protested. "How can he help when he is not even one of us?" Demanded Kerchak. Tarzan ran towards the river in shame.

**Later on…**

Kerchak began to make a nest for Kala in a sheltered place. This particular place was a secret spot of the gorillas. Only one could nest in it at a time. The thick branches of the shelter made it very hard for pedetors to detect if prey was in there, but it wasn't impossible. Kala limped over to Kerchak. "Kala, I built the nest here because sabor is on the move this time of year. I am planning on moving the family to some place away from here tonight. Since your leg is injured you will only slow us down, which would become dangous. You'll stay here until you heal. By then Sabor will have moved on and I will lead the family back." Kerchak explained. Kala gasped. "But what about Tarzan?" Kerchak looked at her. "Sabor is dangerously attracted to human flesh. Tarzan's sent will be too strong to be held back by the branches" Kala pleaded. Kerchak frowned. He knew what Kala was going to ask him. "Kerchak, you have to bring Tarzan with you".

"Kala, he will only slow us down," Kerchak refused.

"And if he stays, it would only put me in more danger," Kala pressed on.

Kerchak considered this. He knew if Tarzan stayed with her it would be eaiser for Sabor to track her down. Sabor was a cleaver leapord, and if he found one gorilla in their home, he would know there were more. If the villan only waited until he came back with the family.

"Okay," said Kerchak reluctantly. "I'll watch over it for you, but _only_ until I return with the rest of the family. Don't expect this from me often".

"Oh, Kerchak, I know this will be a good opertunity for you to bond with-"Kala started to say.

"I said I he could come, that still doesn't make him my son, Kala" Kerchak walked to the threshold of the thicket and saw Tarzan coming to visit Kala. He grunted, rolled his eyes, and walked out of the thicket. Tarzan smiled nervously at Kerchak and then ran to his mother. "I'm really sorry, Mom," he said. "Tarzan, it's alright, really. Accidents are part of learning." Kala brought her son closer to her. She thought of how to bring the news to Tarzan, but she knew it would only worry him more to tell him she was in a little bit of danger. "Tarzan," she began. "Kerchak wants to take the family around to the south side of the jungle for a period of time while I recover."

"I want to stay here with you," Tarzan protested.

"Well," said Kala, thinking of what to say next. "Gorillas need some time and space to recover, so I want you to go with the rest of the family to the south side".

"But, Mom, who is going to take care of me. All the rest of the gorillas hate me." Tarzan said beginning to cry.

Kala hugged Tarzan, " Kerchak will take care of you, he gave his word. And what makes you think that all the rest of the gorillas hate you."

Tarzan pushed away from his mother's embrace and crouched down in a corner of the thicket.

" I heard the other gorillas talking about how weird it was that you were raising me?" Tarzan sighed. "Why can't they understand the way we feel?" asked Tarzan.

Kala limped over to her son, and wraped her arms around him. "They just don't trust what they can't explain." Kala said.

" But we're so-" Tarzan said

Kala took Tarzan's hand. "I know we're different, but deep inside us," Kala placed it over his heart. She left it there for a while and then placed it over hers. "We're not that different at all".

Tarzan smiled and finally hugged his mother back. "Kerchak just can't see that, but you can show him," She said.

They heard a grunt from the entry way. Kerchak was standing at the threshold. Without even addressing Tarzan's name, he said "We must go".

"I know you can do this Tarzan," Kala said. "I believe in you."

Tarzan walked up to Kerchak and smiled. He only glared down at him.


End file.
